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Optical depth profiling of band gap engineered interfaces in amorphous silicon solar cells at monolayer resolution

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.121518· OSTI ID:634193
; ; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Department of Physics and Department of Electrical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 (United States)
  2. IBM Microelectronics Division, Essex Junction, Vermont 05452 (United States)
Real time spectroellipsometry and a two-layer optical analysis have been applied to obtain alloy composition (x) and optical gap (E{sub g}) depth profiles with {approximately}3thinsp{Angstrom} resolution and sensitivities better than {plus_minus}0.01 in x and {plus_minus}0.02thinspeV in E{sub g} for graded amorphous semiconductor alloy thin films prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Graded amorphous silicon{endash}carbon alloy (a-Si{sub 1{minus}x}C{sub x}:H) layers incorporated at the i{endash}p interfaces of a-Si:H n-i-p solar cells have been studied using these methods, and the layer characteristics have been related to improvements in solar cell performance. {copyright} {ital 1998 American Institute of Physics.}
OSTI ID:
634193
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 23 Vol. 72; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English